Monday, October 31, 2011

The latest essay by Anestos Canelides examines the Islamic institution of chattel slavery, which accompanied the Great Jihad wherever it reached.

by Anestos Canelides

Sura 48.20: …Allah promises you much booty (spoils of war) that you will capture from the defeated infidel.

— Legacy of Jihad, by Dr. Andrew Bostom, pg. 127

Slavery has been a curse upon human existence since the dawn of mankind. During modern times there has been a thin illusion that slavery has vanished from the world. The sad reality is that slavery does exist in our modern era, and while slavery is not unique to Islam, there has never been an abolition of slavery in the Islamic world as there has been in the Western nations.

In recent decades slaves were taken in southern Sudan by Muslims from the north. These captives were either Christians or animists taken during the civil unrest between southern Sudan and the Muslims in northern Sudan.

Is there a connection between jihad and slavery in the Muslim world? Most importantly, is slavery an major factor in Jihad?

The main focus of this essay will not be the dhimmi status of the conquered, but jihad and chattel slavery in the Muslim world.

There is a permanent link between jihad and slavery. It is a uniquely Islamic institution, and provides a good explanation for the persistence of slavery in Islam’s dominions and societies. This may applied to specialized forms of slavery such as the employment of eunuchs, slave soldiering, child slavery, and harem slavery. Jihad slavery has been a powerful tool for both expanding Islamization and the maintenance of Muslim societies.[1] It was a form of punishment for the infidels who were conquered, whether they were Christians, Jews, or idolaters.

Historian Spero Vyronis provides a description on how jihad slavery, as practiced by the Seljuk Turks and early Ottomans, was so important for the Islamization of conquered lands in the eleventh through fourteenth centuries.

The Irish decision to remain neutral during the war was only natural; it was the only way for the country to survive. It was by no means able to resist any kind of an invasion, as its army had been neglected after the Civil War, and the experience of the Netherlands and Belgium in 1940 showed that even neutral countries were not safe from German aggression.

Hitler had shown an early interest in Ireland as being a tactically valuable position against Britain and tried to make Ireland join an alliance against Britain. He not only offered military help to improve the Irish army against a possible British invasion, but also suggested to help to solve the problem of Irish partition in return, as soon as the United Kingdom would be defeated.

The German invasion of the Lowlands in May 1940 proved to be a strain on the relations with Ireland. It proved to de Valera and other neutral statesmen that neutrality did not stop the German armies.In 1941 Hitler even argued that "a neutral Irish Free State is of greater value to us than a hostile Ireland", but nevertheless earlier that year he also made General Kurt Student work out an invasion plan for Northern Ireland. Student's plan was to land 32,000 paratroopers and airborne troops by night in two areas; while the larger force would land north of Belfast, capturing RAF airfields at Aldergrove, Langford Lodge and Nutts Corner, the other group would be dropped near Lisburn, to destroy the planes at Long Kesh and to cut the rail connection between Belfast and the south. The next morning, Luftwaffe planes from Brittany would land on the captured airfields. But this plan was eventually abandoned for the sake of other airborne invasions, like the one on Crete.

Another heavy strain on the diplomatic relations between Dublin and Berlin was the 'Goertz-Affair'. Following a police raid on the Dublin home of Stephen Karl Held, member of the IRA and adopted son of a German father, on the 22 May 1940, the police found unmistakable evidence for the earlier presence of a German spy, Hermann Goertz. The seized equipment, included a radio transmitter and receiver, a file containing information about Irish airfields, harbours and other targets, the distribution of the Irish defence forces and the crude outline of a German plan to invade Northern Ireland with the support of the IRA from the south. It was the so-called 'Plan Kathleen' that had earlier been brought to Germany by Held himself, but it was so ludicrous that the German intelligence agency turned it down right away.

An attempt to strengthen the IRA again was the German plan to return the IRA leaders Sean Russell and Frank Ryan, who had been political opponents, to Ireland. At the time of the raid in January 1940, Russell had been on a campaign to raise money in the United States of America, and now he asked the Abwehr to help him return to Ireland, an appeal that delighted the German intelligence, providing it with yet another access to the IRA. The Abwehr managed to get Russell out of the USA and a plan was made for him to return to Ireland, called 'Operation Dove'. After his return on a U-boat the IRA leader would be given free hand in his actions, and he would figure out if joint activities with the Germans were possible. But the whole operation ended tragically, as Russell died on the voyage to Ireland, just in sight of his destination, without telling Ryan about his plans. Ryan therefore decided to return to Germany, where he eventually died in 1944.

..after 1941 Germany was more interested in keeping Ireland neutral than to see it enter the war on the side of Britain. But nevertheless, Berlin tried to achieve at least a positive neutrality for itself and offered the Irish the British weapons left behind at Dunkirk.

On 12th November 1939, eight months before Neville Chamberlain announced that the UK was at war with Hitler's Germany, the IRA under the leadership of Sean Russell issued an ultimatum to the British Government demanding a statement of intent to withdraw from Northern Ireland within four days. When no response was forthcoming, the IRA - the supposed inheritors of the true Republic - declared war on England. By July, 127 explosions had been recorded in Great Britain. Seven innocent civilians died in a campaign almost certainly planned with Nazi connivance, five in one outrage in Coventry.

In 1940 Russell travelled to Germany to try to interest the Reich in a bizarre plan to jointly invade Northern Ireland, codenamed 'Operation Kathleen'. The Germans were not impressed with the IRA, one intelligence officer in Ireland regarding them as "worthless". Russell died of a perforated ulcer on board a German U-boat.

This past week, top government leaders continued to spin the deadly 2009 gunwalking Fast and Furious operation as some low-level rogue operation. In addition, there were inside-the-Beltway rumors, letters sent between key players, and demands for Holder's resignation.

The heroic online journalists at sites like Sipsey Street Irregulars, PajamasMedia, and Townhall have worked for months uncovering facts leading to the foul murders of federal agents and Mexican citizens. During the week leading up to Halloween, certain signs appeared suggesting that their diligent work is beginning to yield some interesting fruit.

Working backwards Memento-style, here are the highlights in what may turn out to be a watershed week in the high-stakes scandal known as Fast and Furious.

Friday, October 28 2:24PM

Katie Pavlich reports from Townhall.com that Attorney General Holder will testify before the House Judiciary Committee on December 8.

Holder better get his lies, the lies of President Obama and the lies of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in order before promising to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth about this deadly program. His testimony is sure to be "consistent and truthful" with his efforts to cover-up Fast and Furious since the beginning of the House Oversight Committee investigation.

Sebastian from Bavaria, Germany writes a book review for SNN readers about a Prussian officer who served in the Confederate Army:

Sometimes attics harbor treasures. German Brigadier General Horst Scheibert made this experience while rummaging in the attic of his family’s home. What he found, surprised him – the diary of his grandfather Justus Scheibert, one of the first war correspondents of the world, writing about his experience in the War between the States.

Justus Scheibert (1831 – 1903) was what today would be called an “embedded war correspondent”. On his mission in the name of the King of Prussia, he ate, laughed, mourned and fought for seven months with the Confederate Army of Robert E. Lee and the Cavalry of Jeb Stuart. Scheibert participated in the battles of Chancellorsville, Brandy Station and Gettysburg. He made friends with Major Heros von Borcke, perhaps the most well-known German serving on the Confederate side. Being a fortress engineer in the Prussian Army, Scheibert helped with the fortification of the beleaguered city of Charleston, SC.

It is thanks to the effort of his grandson that Scheibert’s hand-written draft of the internal army report made it into a book and was published in Germany in 1991. While Scheibert managed to publish two books on the issue after his return home back in the day, it is only the internal report published by his grandson that contains all chapters and details.

What sets this book apart from many other eyewitness reports of The War Between the States is that it was written by both a foreigner and a professional. Coming from the Prussian Army, then considered to be one of the best of the world, Scheibert clearly analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the Confederate Army and combines personal impressions with expertise. Also enclosed are a couple of photos and some of the hand-drawn maps of battles, like sketch of the situation of the beleaguered Charleston, SC.

His writing are not only worthy in terms of military analysis, but also as an independent description of the living conditions during the war. More so, his writings clearly reject the idea that the war was fought for the right of a few plantation owners to hold slaves or even white supremacist ideas, as it is portrayed today. Observing how “free” black folks suffered as a Pariah class on the British Bermudas, Scheibert expresses his view that an integration of black Americans as equal civilized citizens will simply take the of another generation. In his introduction, Scheibert also explains the different economic environments in the North and the South as well as the differences in immigration and society, which would eventually lead to a separation. Scheibert can’t help but to feel sympathetic to the desperate struggle of Southern people against Northern aggression.

“Im Feldlager der Konföderierten” makes an excellent gift for your German friends or for people with profound knowledge of German language and an interest in a foreigners perspective on The War Between The States.

Liberal press bias has been so stark and the lying by omission so blatant that it’s time to take stock again. Here are some examples culled from the “mainstream media,” a term conditioned with quote marks because the media are seriously out of step with America’s mainstream.

Comparing Occupy Wall Street to the Tea Party: On Oct. 22, the Washington Post ran a front-page story trying to show that OWS protesters have much in common with Tea Partyers. Sample: “They start out with different views about the role of government, but in interviews and online discussions they repeatedly share many of the same frustrations, as well as a classically American passion for fixing the system.” Why, they are practically co-belligerents, like the Boy Scouts teaming up with the Hell’s Angels.

The reporter even managed to find a Minnesota woman who attended Tea Party rallies but now identifies with the OWS and says the Tea Party is “becoming the religious wing of the Republican Party.” Open anti-religious bigotry? No problem.

What was missing in the story? How about the fact that violence is absent from Tea Party rallies? Also, that Tea Party members work within the system, urge lawmakers to follow the Constitution and the rule of law, clean up after their events and leave the police with little to do?

So far, Tea Party members have not staged a “human microphone” like the one in New York’s Zuccotti Park, where a crowd repeated mantras that included, “You can have sex with animals.” You probably didn’t see that on NBC or CBS.

Here are a few more things you don’t find at Tea Party rallies but that would be reported widely if you did:

The Spartanburg County Sheriff is known for speaking his mind, and at a news conference on Monday, he didn't hold back his anger and frustration after a woman was attacked in a park over the weekend.Investigators said 46-year-old Walter Lance grabbed a woman who was walking her dog in Milliken Park on Sunday afternoon. They said Lance choked the woman, made her take off her clothing and tried to rape her. (Full Story)Lance is in custody and was denied bond on Monday.Sheriff Chuck Wright opened his news conference by saying, "Our form of justice is not making it."He said, "Carry a concealed weapon. That'll fix it."

Last week I received an email from a cycling group to which I belong. It was marked "urgent" and its subject line read as follows: "Federal Bike Funding Under Attack Again." It implored me to contact my elected representatives in Washington and demand that they oppose an amendment introduced by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to the Transportation Enhancements program. Never heard of TE? Well, it's administered by the Federal Highway Administration and provides funding for the "provision of pedestrian and bicycle facilities," among other things. The proposed amendment, it seems, would redirect funding from such urgent national priorities to trivialities like infrastructure maintenance. The email cites the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed every year and declares, "We must defeat this amendment."

As it happens, I know a little something about cycling accidents. I was hit by a car last year and had the uniquely unpleasant experience of bashing out a windshield with my head before flying through the air upside down. This is why my few loyal readers (Hi, Mom) were deprived of my brilliant effusions for about six weeks during the Summer of 2010. However, I was wearing a helmet at the time of my surprise encounter with that wayward automobile, so my brain was not damaged so badly that I actually believe it's more important to spend taxpayer money on "Watch for Cyclists" signs than on the repair of vital infrastructure. Even when I was taking those delicious painkillers they gave me in the Emergency Room, I was never stoned enough to think that the wallets of my fellow citizens contain a limitless supply of cash.

And, make no mistake about it, that is precisely what our progressive friends believe. They are actually naïve enough to think that we can pay for all the goodies we want simply by raising taxes. Most progressives, including the journalists and politicians who promote their clueless agenda, come from upper middle class environments where everyone is pretty comfortable. They have lived their entire lives around the kind of people who actually commiserated with Barack Obama when he bemoaned the skyrocketing cost of arugula. Few have ever had a close relationship with anyone who does not enjoy a good deal of disposable income. Thus, they believe that raising taxes means nothing more draconian than fewer Gurkhas for some anonymous suit in a gleaming office building downtown.

This is why they so readily believe absurd canards about the Tea Party movement. It is far easier for them to believe the "closet racist" meme than to get their stunted intellects around the notion that there could be a genuine grassroots movement comprised of tapped out taxpayers. For progressives, "authentic" anti-government activists are well-heeled airheads like themselves. The classic example is the erstwhile Weather Underground leader and friend of the President whom Ann Coulter accurately describes thus: "[Bill] Ayers is such an imbecile, we ought to be amazed that he's teaching at a university -- even when you consider that it's an ed school -- except all former violent radicals end up teaching. Roughly 80 percent of former Weathermen are full college professors."

How would you feel if your pastor stood in the pulpit this past Sunday opened what you believed to be his Bible and then started to read passages completely unfamiliar to you. Then in the midst of the reading you hear him say Allah instead of God and you realize he is reading not from his Bible, but from the Quran.

How would you feel and what would you do?

If this didn’t happen to you yesterday, count yourself fortunate because it did happen to a number people sitting in Christian churches across America.

Social activists involved with Faith Shared, a program of Interfaith Alliance and Human Rights First were trying to promote tolerance and respect of Islam and counter opposition to the Muslim faith. So starting with the National Cathedral in Washington DC, at least fifty other churches in twenty-six states joined in the effort to host readings from the Quran.

The effort is meant to counter what they refer to as ‘anti-Muslim bigotry and negative stereotypes’ that have been growing in the US. By getting prominent national and local churches to read from the Quran and teach their congregations about Islam, the Alliance believes it will help make Christians more knowledgeable and tolerant of Islam.

The idea that there were about as many people living in North America at the time of the arrival of Columbus as there were at about the turn of the 19th into the 20th century is simply ridiculous.

In 1900, there were several cities with populations of more than a million, and dozens with populations of more than 100,000.

In order to feed those dwelling in these places and for other purposes, highways and railroads crisscrossed the country. To coordinate the economic activities of such a vast population required institutions of commerce and finance, in addition to this physical infrastructure.

Yet there is no archeological evidence of any city of more than 100,000 of the indigenous people of this country or anything like a road network; although, yes, there is archeological evidence of a few scattered large towns and some trails.

Nor was there any folklore of institutions, such as marketplaces and banks, needed by a vast economy, nor any folklore of a mass extinction.

Middleburg Heights OH sued by family of man who died after tasered 7 times during traffic stop, one of which lasted for 23 seconds. [3] bit.ly/uTaS3Z

San Francisco CA sheriff’s officers are being implicated in the incident that left a USMC vet seriously injured with a head wound during #OccupyOakland when police launched tear gas rounds at protesters. While San Francisco Sheriff’s deputies may have fired the rounds that caused injuries, they apparently did it under direction of the Oakland PD, although that department is prohibited from firing into crowds with such weapons… but they shouldn’t be able to get around that by getting other departments to come into the city to do it for them. [3] bit.ly/t9hfa1

Palm Springs FL & Palm Beach County FL sued by a homeless man who lost an eye and a chunk of his ear when SWAT officers shot him in the head with rubber bullet rounds. Police responded to a call from an assistance agency he called because they thought he was illegally staying in the brush by a church but he apparently had permission to be there. [3] bit.ly/sgRNy4

Philadelphia PA cop is under investigation after being accused of intentionally using his police cruiser as a weapon by pinning a man against a wall during a chase, leaving him seriously injured. [1] bit.ly/sapihi

Tulsa OK cop fired for using excessive force then threatening his fellow officers in an attempt to obstruct the subsequent investigation into the incident [0] bit.ly/rrogdd

2 San Francisco CA cops were fired. The first was fired for using excessive force then falsely arresting a witness to the incident. The other for unauthorized use of a police database. [2] http://bit.ly/tZJPGM

Jefferson Parish LA deputy was found guilty of kidnapping and raping a woman after detaining her during a traffic stop. [0] bit.ly/tD1LwO

Tennessee State trooper arrested an reporter who was on assignment during a police crackdown on #OccupyNashville protests and then allegedly threatened another reporter who questioned the arrest after vouching for that reporter. While the police eventually charged him for public intoxication they never tested him and a recording of the arrest appears to contradict that charge. [4] bit.ly/s0az9g

Los Angeles County CA memos indicate that the sheriff there was warned about brutality and accountability problems in his jails by his own commanders 2 years before the problems came to light and triggered a federal investigation. [3] lat.ms/rp73Bi

Toronto ON cop was found to have falsified evidence and his testimony after his partner contradicted his story about a traffic stop that led to a drug arrest. [3] bit.ly/rVGJf9

Macungie PA police chief says that small town’s mayor has no right to see police disciplinary records in a legal battle that could affect how police departments are managed and held accountable across the entire state. [0] bit.ly/uN07Qk

Harrisburg PA police are being sued by a man after cops siezed up to $43k from his home during a fruitless search for gun. The warrant only specified a search for a gun but police grabbed the cash by insisting it was drug related even though there were no drugs found and no charges filed. Police eventually returned some money but not all, according to the plaintiff. [0] bit.ly/vdOQ2M

Draper UT cop got a “plea in abeyance” deal that will clear his criminal record after he was arrested for smoking heroin in his cop car [0] bit.ly/rrStdV

Pueblo CO cop avoided prosecution on a trespassing charge for barging into a home uninvited in search of her husband. Her record will be cleared after completing a pretrial diversion program. [0] bit.ly/tEOmXH

Tucson AZ police sgt arrested on DUI charge when he responded to a call for SWAT officers while off duty in his personal car [0] bit.ly/tI2B5O

2 New York NY cops suspended for 30 days each after both were arrested on DUI charges in seperate incidents. One crashed into a parked car while the other was found passed out in his car [0] nydn.us/trrihq

So Lynn Thompson, chief owner and bottle washer of "Cold Steel Knives" has a blog and posted a video with some training tricks. MadOgre, the "blogfather" himself commented on how utterly stupid some of the advice shown on the video located here: http://blog.lynncthompson.com/2011/08/glock.html

I'm not a professional firearms instructor (although Ogre is), nor do I play one on TV (or YouTube). I am however well trained in training riflemen for the US Army although it is not my primary function. My primary function is to ensure that my NCOs are proficient at training marksmanship (and usually they are, but sometimes they too need corrective training).

As far as Lynn's level of fitness, that is his issue. I've seen morbidly obese service members from every branch. The good thing about having a gun is that it kind of negates the advantage the other guys has in how many pushups he can do every morning.

The idea of "suppressive fire" is simple. Shoot to make the other guy keep his head down while your buddy flanks left (or sometimes right, we mix it up like that cause we can) who can then take a kill shot so you can move on to the next objective and do it all over again. This is a war zone tactic that is the very basis for "fire and maneuver" which means a STATIONARY base of fire and a MANEUVER element flanking. It ain't rocket surgery. Some people think "fire and maneuver" means shooting on the move, but that is not the case. You will shoot and move for CQB, but I don't care how good you get, you will never be as accurate or as effective as when you are stationary. Practice enough and you can get pretty darn good, and at pistol ranges that is "good enough for government work."

Now, at NO POINT IN ANY CIVILIAN SITUATION should you use "Fire and Maneuver" to "reduce a threat" because simply put you are not at war. If you are at war please disregard and go about your business. If you are a law enforcement officer and the Zeta's come to town, hit me up and I'll give you some good pointers on how to use fire and maneuver (and hopefully dedicated marksmen) to keep you from becoming another decapitated corpse hanging from a bridge.

However, if you aren't fighting off a ruthless Mexican Drug Cartel you probably don't have any reason to practice "fire and maneuver" or "suppressive fire" when defending your life or the lives of others. Shoot to stop the threat. If that means "shoot to kill" that is what you do. Don't shoot the dirt, don't shoot to warn, shoot to stop the threat.

I have seen Navy SEALs use the "stitch" technique to clear corners. It is like "pieing" the corners except you are pulling the trigger the whole time to keep whoever is on the other side of the corner from being able to pull their trigger back at you. This works when you have a lot of men with MP5's and plenty of ammo. It doesn't work when you have a 5 shot 38 Special revolver as your carry piece. And that extended mag on Lynn's Glock? Probably not something you are going to carry day in and day out unless you happen to by Jared Loughner....

Aim fast, shoot fast. Don't spray and pray. Don't "walk your rounds in" unless your rounds are coming from long distance assistance in the form of mortars or artillery. Remember that you are fighting to stop the threat, not kill Osama Bin Laden on a night raid in a foreign country.

The Obama Administration has issued a regulation under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) directing government agencies to lie to the public.

We in the gun community have faced an analogous situation when Attorney General Eric Holder and other high Justice Department officials lied about their knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious -- and the department’s role in placing guns in the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

Thank you so much for communicating with your Representatives last week in regard to Attorney General Eric Holder. The day after we asked you to contact your Congressman, the number of Representatives calling for Holder’s resignation officially doubled.

And since then, the number of Congressmen calling for Holder’s ousting has more than doubled again -- the total number now reaching 17.

That sounds like a pretentious title. Even presumptuous. "The War and I." My father, who saw combat through the worst days of World War Two--in North Africa, Italy, France, Belgium--and was critically wounded at Bastogne, would have never personalized his participation. He took pride in viewing himself as a part of the "Good War," simply a patriotic American who had served with other men exactly like him. He asked for nothing in return except to be honored with the U.S. flag draped over his coffin.

He was.

But the Vietnam War did not work out that way. It was such a debacle that if you didn't come out of it with your own personal story, you came away with nothing. And so my generation's war has produced a million different stories of how the conflict affected the individual.

That is the reason, I believe, the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington has become so important to so many. You go to The Wall to touch a person, not a cause like the "Good War."

The conference on the Vietnam War at the College of William and Mary. Left to Right - Zalin Grant, Peter Arnett, Wallace Terry and Joseph L. Galloway. I've known the three for 35 years. All of them are journalists and authors--and were extraordinarily brave war correspondents.

I was invited to participate in a conference at the College of William and Mary, in Virginia, on the 25th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.

After I returned home, I said to my wife Claude: "I finally feel the war is over for me. Maybe now I can tell my personal story."

"What's that got to do with a letter from a French village?" she asked.

"I wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for the war," I said. "That's how I met you."

"You are right," she said. "Do it."

A few weeks before I attended the William and Mary conference, Frank McCulloch's two daughters asked me--as they asked others who had worked with him--to write an appreciation of their father, as a surprise for his 80th birthday.

Frank McCulloch started me on my journalism career in the Saigon bureau of Time magazine in 1965. After he left Time, McCulloch, a former US Marine platoon sergeant, held many high positions in journalism, including as managing editor of the Sacramento Bee and the San Francisco Examiner.

AN APPRECIATION: Frank McCulloch

It doesn't surprise me that Frank McCulloch has turned 80. He has handled aging like he has handled everything else in his life. He has simply looked at it squarely in the face, and said, "OK, you want to challenge me, then I'm ready."

Of course, Frank knows who will win. He is a total realist. But that attitude defines Frank for the people who know and love him.

"I ain't giving up."

Frank McCulloch in Vietnam 1965. Tough and gentle, it's rare in a man. McCulloch hired me in the Time magazine bureau after I completed my tour as a US intelligence officer. He also hired Pham Xuan An, who turned out to be a Viet Cong intelligence officer. Oops!

As I say, I'm not surprised that Frank is turning 80. Actually, I'm surprised by how old that makes me. But I know Frank understands that at this moment of celebrating him, I'm thinking of myself. That's another thing that defines Frank. Spare him the b.s.of life. He'll chuckle because he knows I'm telling the truth. Only then can I say that I--we--love him, that he has made our lives better in countless ways. For only when Frank knows that you are speaking from the hard edge of truth, not the soft edge of sentimentality, will he believe it.

I count it as one of the luckiest moments of my life when I met Frank in Saigon in 1965, just before I was to be discharged from the Army Intelligence Service. Actually we had met before, when he came to Danang to cover the US Marines.

As weird as the idea seems to me today, I had established the US Army's covert intelligence headquarters in Danang as a first lieutenant, which was eventually used by the 525th MI Group. I took pride in that point until I discovered, much later, that I had rented the villa from a member of the Central Committee of the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong).

Brigadier general, commander, 7th Infantry Division at Dong Tam, near My Tho. General Hai was born in Phong Dinh province (Can Tho). He graduated from the Dalat Military Academy, Class 7, 1951. Hai was renown of being incorruptible, outspoken and brave. In 1968, he was commanding the Ranger Branch Command, directly supervising the Ranger's raid to clear the enemy force that infiltrated into the business quarter of *Cho Lon area.

He was then assigned National Police Chief. In 1970 he was commander, Special Tactical Area 44... before commanding the 7th Division.

He won the adoration of everyone who once worked with him, as he was renown of being incorruptible. At midnight, 30 April 1975, he committed suicide at the Division Headquarters, Dong Tam Army Base. (*This was TET '68. A friend of mine, Bill Lemon, was caught in Cholon when the Communists came. They were going door to door, street by street searching all the houses. After the second day, it was apparent that they would get to where he was staying the next day. Now picture this: George weighed 300 pounds, but his wife made him a white top with black pants like women wear there especially when they are selling wares, put a conical hat on his head, and he was able to walk a few blocks to where a man, who had been contacted by telephone, met him in a jeep, and got him away safely under a hail of fire! BT)

Saigon Cholon Fighting (Short One)(The reporter exaggerates. No where near one half of Saigon was destroyed, etcetera. I like the soldier going on the offensive pushing a trash cart! Near the end there are a couple of shots of *Colonel Loan. BT)

The VC under this man's command had just gone through an ARVN compound and killed all, including the women and children. Colonel Loan knew this when this man was bought before him, and acted quite compassionately, I believe, for the culprit would not have been so lucky if I had been in charge.

Colonel Loan was later saved after being wounded on a Saigon bridge by an American MP who got a medal for his action.

Colonel Loan made it to the states where he ran a restaurant in Northern Virginia.

"The term 'assault weapon' has always been misleading and disingenuous. I have yet to see in all my years a 'retreat rifle', a 'Mexican standoff rifle', or an 'advance slowly rifle'. All rifles are capable of inflicting fatal and near fatal wounds. They would be worthless if they weren't so capable. If some look scarier than others, that would only help in their perceived effectiveness by the enemy and should help shorten the fight. Why would you want it any different? The most dangerous rifle is the one in the hands of a capable rifleman, regardless of type. The most dangerous thing to a country's liberty is the ignorance of its electorate. Through ignorance, those uninformed voters give away the very means to keep their precious rights intact. That is a scary dangerous thing."-- Rickj27, in a comment on an October, 2011 American Thinker article on the majority of public sentiment opposing gun bans.

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Back in May it was reported that every rape assault in the city of Oslo in the last five years had been committed by a person with a “non-Western” background – a Norwegian euphemism for Muslim. Now it turns out that there have already been twice as many rape assaults in Oslo so far this year as there were in all of 2010. At least one member of Parliament, André Oktay Dahl of the Conservative Party, calls the situation “critical” and is brave enough to acknowledge that many of the perpetrators come from cultures “with a reprehensible attitude toward women.”

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Core Creek Militia

==============================My sixth great grandfather, his wife, and five of his six children were killed in battle with the Tuscarora Indians at Core Creek, NC.

The Seven Blackbirds

==============================My third great grandfather was an Ensign in the Revolutionary War, and saved his unit's flag after being wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. He was also at Kingston (Kinston), Wilmington, Charleston, Two Sisters and Augusta. He was at the defeat at Brier Creek and also Bee Creek.

Requiem Aeternam -
Eternal Rest Grant unto Them
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My second great grandfather was killed in action on May 3, 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
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My great grandfather and great uncle knew all the men in the "Civil War Requiem" video as they were part of the 53rd NC which was the sole unit defending Fort Mahone. (Fort Mahone was named "Fort Damnation" by the Yankees) *Handpicked men of the 53rd (My great grandfather was one of these) made the final, night assault at Petersburg in an attempt to break Grant's line. This was against Fort Stedman which was a few miles to the slight northeast. They initially succeeded, but reinforcements drove them back. This video is made from photographs which were taken the day after the 53rd evacuated the lines the night before to begin the retreat to Appomattox. I have many more pictures taken by the same photographer, one of these shows a 14 year old boy and the other is the famous picture of the blond, handsome soldier with his musket.
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*General Gordon promised the men a gold medal and 30 days leave if they accomplished their task and many years after the War my great grandfather wrote General Gordon, who was then governor of Georgia about this incident. They exchanged several letters which I have framed. See first link below.
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*The Attack On Fort Stedman
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"His Colored Friends"
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Lee's Surrender
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My Black NC Kinfolks
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Punished For Being Caught!

Great Grandfather Koonce

He was a drummer boy in the WBTS, survived the War only to die a few years later. He was caught in an ice storm on his way home, but instead of seeking shelter, continued on his horse until the end. His clothes had to be cut off and he died a few days later.

Thank you

I would just like you to know how so very glad I am that I found your blog. I have learned more history from you and the many links that you post than I have from reading all my history books. I can never thank you enough for the education you are freely giving me. It is priceless. And eye opening.

Many times I will not comment, but that does not mean I am not reading and learning.

You sir, are an educator. Thank you.

PhyllisWantage, NJ

Good morning Mr. Townsend,

Just to let you know I have finally finished that massive tome on General Lee. I never knew 1/10th of what a great man he was. No wonder the South is so proud of him! So sad that we have few men of his caliber today. We need them desperately. I have learned more history through you and your blog than I thought I could ever learn. I am very grateful to you. Thank you so much for taking time to answer my e-mail. And thank you for your blog and for opening my eyes.

PhyllisWantage, NJ

".......So good to hear from you! And also so pleased you are converting more of us Yankees! You have no idea how many people you have taught. And how many are so grateful to you for showing us the truth."

Your faithful friend,

Phylis

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I have also learned from Brock Townsend and two nurses lately, that appreciation expressed by someone for whom you have great respect overwhelms the lack of appreciation by some from whom you expect it. I believe that we cannot really know which small bit of help makes the life-saving difference. ﻿

I have learned more history from you than all the years I was supposed to be in school (and not out hunting or fishing).

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I really must say, I like thousands of others have said, your blog is the best out there and with all of your history and experience, you should run for *president. I look forward to reading your blog every day and every day I learn from you. Thank you for the time you put into this effort .

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